China bus crash kills 18, 37 hurt

A BUS went out of control and slipped from a snow-covered bridge in China, killing 18 people and injuring 37.

The overloaded bus was carrying 57 people when it crashed in Guizhou yesterday afternoon. It had come from the province of Anhui when it plunged from the bridge into a valley 30ft below.

The accident follows the deaths of 13 people on Tuesday in central Hunan province, where a truck crossed a highway divider and crashed head-on into a bus. A separate truck-bus collision in the southwestern province in Yunnan yesterday killed eight and injured 13.

Three killed by wild elephant

POLICE say a wild elephant entered a village in southeastern Nepal and trampled three villagers to death and injured two more.

Police official Satya Narayan Rajbangsi said the elephant entered Prithvinagar village yesterday night and trampled the villagers before being chased away.

Wild elephants have been known to enter villages looking for stored grains and sugar cane and sometimes attack humans when they try to stop them.

Puppet hit star dies at 72

ROBERT Dickey, a guitarist and singer in the group that recorded the hit song I'm Your Puppet, has died.

The 72-year-old died in his home town of Tallahassee, Florida, on December 29.

Dickey began his musical career during the 1960s and toured with soul and RnB singers such as Otis Redding.

He became part of the soul group James and Bobby Purify. The duo had its biggest hit in 1966 when I'm Your Puppet hit the Top 10. They also had a hit with a cover of Shake Your Tail Feather.

Ex NOTW boss in new US job

THE former editor of the now-defunct News Of The World has been made editor-in-chief of The New York Daily News.

Colin Myler (59) was at the helm of the UK Sunday tabloid, part of Rupert Murdoch's empire, when it was forced to close in July amid the phone hacking scandal.

He will now replace Kevin Convey at the New York paper, from January 10.